Four Ways to Optimize LinkedIn for Hiring

LinkedIn is a reliable and affordable way to increase your visibility with qualified job seekers when you are hiring. The social network provides great tools to help job seekers search for jobs and get a feel for companies that are hiring. Employers can also reach out to their network to help spread the word about open positions.

You don’t have to wait until you have a job opening. Having updated personal and company profiles and making sure you’re connected to all your real-world professional contacts on LinkedIn will make it that much easier and faster to fill a position when the time comes.

Market Yourself

Your profile should be 100% complete. LinkedIn provides a handy Profile Strength Meter on the right side of your profile to give you an idea of how far along you are in completing your profile.

What makes a profile complete?

• A profile photo (try to avoid photos with pets, kids or significant others)
• A professional headline that highlights your area of expertise
• Your industry and geographic location
• 50 or more connections
• A summary of your work
• An up-to-date current position that includes a description
• Two past positions
• Your education information, including degrees and certifications earned
• Your skills – aim to include at least three

Job seekers may be searching Google to find more information about you as part of their research. And odds are, LinkedIn will be at the top of the Google search results. Providing a detailed description of your current position provides insight into your organization.

Market Your Company

LinkedIn offers Company pages, which serve the same purpose for your company as your personal profile page serves for you. In addition to attracting potential customers, creating a LinkedIn page for your company is a great way to provide information for prospective job candidates.

When you create a company page, be sure to include a compelling image and descriptions of your products or services. Once the page is set up, invite your employees to join the page.

For more information on how to build a LinkedIn Company page, check out this recent article on CIO.com.

Status Updates

LinkedIn Status updates are like micro-blogs that broadcast out to your network. You can use them to share news stories with your connections and to keep them updated about what’s going on in your professional life, new job openings at your company and new products or services you’re offering. And you can broadcast updates from your personal LinkedIn Profile and your Company Page. Compelling updates can drive people to your website, blog or careers page.

Stay In Touch

Developing and growing a professional network takes time. You can use LinkedIn to stay in touch with business professionals you know and trust. Someone you’ve worked with successfully in the past may make a strong candidate for an open position at your company – or they may know some candidates they can refer to you.

Building your LinkedIn connections means that when the time comes to hire, you’ll be ready to activate your network to spread the word about an open position.

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